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POEMS 



WILL SKALING 



Inscribed with every feeling of friendship and esteem, 
To ARTHUR LYMAN MARSH. 



PRICE, 65 CENTS 



SEATTLE: 
Press of the Merchants Printing Company, Scheuerman Blk. 



43222 

ONE COPY RECEIVED. 



[Library oi Congress 

SEP 4 (900 

Copyright entry 

*<1 wm copy. 

2nd Copy Delivered to 

ORDER DIVISION 

SEP 7 1901 






Copyright, 1900, 

By Will, Skaling, 

Avon, Washington. 



,■...,-, 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 



PAGE. 



^ 


Above the Bay 


1 


Morn at Sea 


23 


A Sword Gleam 


2 


Hurrying 


24 


A Kiss.. 


3 


Idle Fancy 


25 


> 


Shelley's Spirit 


4 


The Dying Century 


26 


To Fear . 


5 


Invitation 


27 


Advent of Spring 


6 


The New Born Sun . 


28 


$ 


Hope 


7 


Moonlight 


29 




To Mv Soul 


8 


To Eban H. Crandall 


30 




Dull Time 


9 


Pallas Shrine . 


31 




Press On 


. 10 


Bob-White 


32 




Sidney Lanier . 


. 11 


Silence .... 


33 




A Request 


. 12 


The Unseen Fate . 


34 




Mt. Baker 


. 13 


A River Song . 


35 




Morn on Puget Soun 


d . 14 


A Broken Promise . 


36 




I Linger . 


. 15 


Neowana .... 


37 




To Arthur Lyman ft 


arsh 16 


Ocean Swells . 


38 




On Re-Reading K( 


3ats' 


My Brethren . 


39 




"Endymion" 


. 17 


Not for Me 


40 




Isabel 


. 18 


Whispers 


41 




The New Religion 


. 19 


To Isabella Evans Hadfield 


42 




A Tender Voice 


. 20 


Infinite .... 


43 




Hope that is Forlori 


i . 21 


On the River . 


44 




The Languid Sun 


. 22 


Nifhrata .... 


45 



ABOVE THE BAY. 

This summer's day fades slow away 
While scream the gulls above the bay ; 
Yet, as the splendor mourns again, 
Pale Eve upon the hills remain. 



A SWORD GLEAM. 

Frowning Night advances, her white robes trailing, 

As fades pale Day, her splendor failing. 

In the fading glory of the western skies afar 

I see the quivering sword gleam of one pale star. 



A KISS. 

A kiss, what is it? 'Tis the mingling of two souls in 

rapture blended ; 
'Tis a gleam of unseen sweetness, a living bliss that's 

never ended ; 
'Tis a flash of poet's glories vanishing in the joy of 

birth ; 
' Tis the tie that binds our souls in one and weds our 

joys on earth. 



SHELLEY'S SPIRIT. 
Shelley's spirit hovers o'er me ; I can see his face afar. 
Poor, sad Shelley, Danae loves thee, but I love 
the water-nymph 
That weeping clasped thee in her arms and bore thee 
to yon haven-bar, 
While inly blooms the asphodel, and mourns for 
thee sweet Hyacinth. 



A FEAR. 

Dread dweller in the pit of fire, from Pluto's ghostly 
land, 
I see thy fearful, frightened face aud hear thy 
rustling pinion 
That waves awhile before my brow ere seen by the 
Furies' band ; 
Pale Fear, I recognize thy face, but own not thy 
dominion. 



ADVENT OF SPRING. 
Pale Winter fades amid the gloom of the slowly 

waning day, 
While blushing Spring on wings of dawn doth herald 

forth the May, 
And the heart of Youth is stirred by Love, regarding 

not the thorn, 
As I wander drear o'er the cloud-crowned hills, all 

splendor in the morn. 



HOPE. 

Hope, sweet Hope, thou dost hover o'er the world ; 
Thou dost steal away my sorrow and my care. 
Wilt thou ever hover near me with thy silver wings 
unfurled, 
Calm my anger, steal my sorrow, grant me Love 
divine, most rare. 



TO MY SOUL. 

Why linger in this cursed world ? Rise starward in 

the flashing light ; 
Cast away the thralls of Death, gaze scornful at the 

Infinite. 
Be haughty to the one named God ; oh, stop the 

grinding wheels of Time ; 
Blast the hand that toys with us, rest in thy Godlike 

strength sublime. 



DULL TIME. 

Time, dull Time, pass on with hasting wing, 
My heart's best love, to thee, I willing bring. 
My Past, dim time, hath vanished with the light; 
To-day is gone, 'mid clouds of dusky night. 



IO 



PRESS ON. 

Press on, thou weary mortal, thy pathway long is 

winding ; 
Gaze upward at the morning sun, that roseate clouds 

are binding. 
Hew out thy path, dispel thy fears, with song thy 

path beguiling, 
Mount upward to the infinite, where dreamy Love is 

smiling. 



II 



SIDNEY LANIER. 

Oh ! mourn for the one that to Poesy is dear, 
Weep, sunny South, at the mention of Lanier ; 
Mourn for Lanier who sleepeth cold in Death, 
While the mournful wind sigheth o'er the dreary heath. 



12 



A REQUEST 

I worship thee, bright Phoebus, and kneeling at thy 

feet, 
Oh, take me to thy poet's hall where Poesy and 

Music meet ; 
Oh, let me for one minute kneel and hear the 

wondrous singing, 
And as the vision fades away I hear the echoes 

ringing. 



i3 



MT. BAKER. 

All hail ! Mount Baker, stern yet grand, I love thy 

frowning head so white, 
Thy falling waters foaming free, thy snows where the 

moon burns bright ; 
Your valleys where the wild rose blooms, here, the 

violet blue is seen ; 
Old mountain, thou dost know the Past and Future 

too, I ween. 



H 



MORN ON PUGET SOUND. 

The dun, drear clouds of night are fading, while morn 
comes from afar, 

The east is blushing red with light, as sadly dies the 
morning star. 

Night waves her wand before my brow, I see the 
darkness fail, 

While glows the east with sapphire blaze and ame- 
thystine clouds, all pale. 



x 5 



I LINGER. 

I linger in this lonely world, I know not why, 

I listen to the morn-bird's song that dies in the blush- 
ing sky. 

Oh ! chill the wind that stirs the reeds on the wide 
and desolate heath, 

Oh ! linger but a little more, then cometh blissful 
Death. 



i6 



TO ARTHUR LYMAN MARSH. 

When, in the burial of the Past, was born anew the 
Spirit of Song, 
Glad Nature smiled again, amazed, and kist her 
poet's dreaming face. 
She said, ' 'Oh ! Poet of my later days, chant songs of 
Hope, assail the wrong, 
And when thou tirest of mocking Life, come to 
my lingering, fond embrace." 

u Still lives the power of antique song, tho' cities 
crumble to decay ; 
Even the empires of the West are torn by 
Might's dominion. 
Yea, die away the sceptered kings, as fades pale Death 
beyond the bay ; 
Tho' world's decay in vasty space I hear the 
rustle of sad Song's pinion." 

For when, dear friend, my missions o'er, wilt lay me 
in yon shady dell, 
Where mourns the aspen all the day, beside the 
endless, trembling sea. 
Perchance, when Time has passed away, then blooms 
for me the asphodel ; 
Then, Arthur, weep above my bier, the home of 
one that wrote for thee. 



i7 



ON RE-READING KEATS' "ENDYMION." 

Hail, Endymion, happiest of mortals, since with thy 
love thou dwellest ; 

Phoebus' sounding lyre thou heard, as the music died 
away in pain, anon, it sweetly swellest, 

While on the wings of Mercury didst fright the listen- 
ing air and past the gleaming seven ; 

With Phoebe fair, ideal love, dost dwell in joy in 
sounding heaven. , 



i8 



ISABEL. 

Fair Isabel, sweet Isabel, bright faced nymph of the 

river grasses, 
Pan worships thee, I love thee, Phoebus kisses thy 

darkened tresses. 
Thou lovest me, 'neath Dian's ray, oh, Isabel, so 

tender ; 
We'll dwell on high in the laughing sky with Love 

in the radiant splendor. 



x 9 



THE NEW RELIGION. 

L,o ! on my sight, the Churches war and vanish in 

the Past ; 
The New Religion welcomes me at the notes of the 

bugle blast, 
While Churches, Creeds and Dogmas lie in the dread 

abyss of Time ; 
Amazed they see the faith of man, the Universal 

Church sublime. 



20 



A TENDER VOICE. 

The hawthorn blooms are falling, fading in the grass, 
As the bloom of Life, that, failing, grieving to the 

end will pass. 
The elm trees are sighing, their boughs to the storm 

winds bend, 
While I listen to a tender voice that charms me to 

the end. 



21 



HOPE THAT IS FORLORN. 

Life, sweet Life, wilt thou ever dwell anear me ; 
Thou dost hover o'er the Future and dost guard the 

brooding sea 
That is covered with the wrecks of Time, with Hope 

that is forlorn, 
Still gazing at the coming tide and waiting for the 

morn. 



22 



THE LANGUID SUN. 

Whisper sweetly, gentle west wind, in thy murmuring 

undertone, 
While the waving pine-tops shiver in the evening air 

alone. 
Lo ! the languid sun is sinking in the calm and 

splendid west, 
While the gently dying west wind kiss my weary 

eyes to rest. 



23 



MORN AT SEA. 

Hast thou heard the dreamy beating of the surf upon 

the shore, 
In the flushing dawn of morning while the sea doth 

morn adore ? 
Oh ! the splendor and the radiance of a morn-break 

bright at sea, 
While the winds that kiss the billows moaneth ever 

restlessly. 



24 



HURRYING. 

Hurrying along through life we go, 

Reck not for sorrow or heart-breaking woe ; 

Hustling, bustling, we dance to the end, 

Then pray that the gods on our souls may attend. 



25 



IDLE FANCY. 

I gaze upon the lonely hills their eternal silence 

keeping, 
And listen to the midnight moan of Oreads sleeping, 
The snow-clad hills that waken me from idle Fancy 

straying ; 
Yet, Fancy hovers near me still, her airy flight 

delaying. 



26 



THE DYING CENTURY. 

Lo ! as the dying century fades in battle-clouds and 
and storm, 

From out the womb of palsied Time appears a won- 
drous form, 

A Cherubim, within whose hand is seen an olive 
branch of Peace ; 

On her mild form the nations gaze and from their 
dread wars cease. 



27 



INVITATION. 

The hawthorn bloom invites the bee, 
The stretch of sands doth meet the sea, 
While swaying pine boughs kiss the breeze 
That stirs the forest draperies. 



28 



THE NEW BORN SUN. 

Oh, unrisen splendor of the new born sun, 
Ere white robed Hesper her course hath run, 
Hail, clouds that blushing red with light 
Doth kiss the stars that grieve at death of night. 



29 



MOONLIGHT. 

Weirdly the moonlight glimmers, pale on the swelling 
tide, 

Where the grass and the rushes shiver and the water 
nymphs abide. 

Dreamily murmur the waters as the tide doth ebb and 
flow, 

While over the gleaming beauty night's breezes whis- 
per low. 



3° 



TO EBEN H. CRANDALL. 

Dear friend, if this displeases you, then pardon me ; 
But from my high regard for you I brim my glass to 

thee. 
Remember me as one alone, think of me when I'm 

dead, 
Yet, while the world malign me, shed one poor tear 

above my head. 

Still, as my slowly waning star sinks in the sleepy 
west, 

And as the winds blow o'er my tomb, wilt wreath a 
crown for one at rest, 

Once again, dear Eben, I see you while the storm- 
winds flee, 

And with my failing breath, dear friend, I quaff a 
health to thee. 



3i 



PALLAS SHRINE. 

The breath of wanton springtime cometh stealing o'er 

the cresses, 
As stole the fawns upon the nymphs in Delphian 

wildernesses. 
Then will I tread the dreary heath and write within 

the wildwood, 
And build a shrine to Pallas wise and worship in the 

solitude. 



32 



BOB-WHITE. 

Bob- White ! ethereal songster of my Avon's sleeping 

meadows. 
Melodies of vanished orbs I hear, but, not for thee 

hath Pluto shadows. 
All to thee my verse is offered, I that linger near thy 

shrine ; 
Thy song hath wooed my soul afar, thou vernal bird 

divine. 



33 



SILENCE. 

White-robed silence hovers o'er the sea, 
Calming the billows with a deeper mystery, 
Sailing o'er the wave, her white plumes waving. 
Her pearly hands in the salt wave laving. 

Fading away at the slow approach of morn, 
Night's wreaths of darkness doth her form adorn. 
Fare the well, sweet Silence, thy long embrace 

art tender, 
Vanish, pale Silence, in the dreamy splendor. 



34 



THE UNSEEN FATE. 

Men, my brethren, why wilt sorrow for the lost and 
vanished days ? 

Cease thy pining, face the Present, tread down Time's 
devious ways ; 

Fling thy pleasures in the Past, entomb each vain 
desire, 

Yea, girding on your former might, follow yon waver- 
ing fire. 

Break from the narrow creeds of Time, defy the 

Church's hate, 
Place on thy head the crown of thought, search out 

thy unseen Fate ; 
Destroy the Old, bring forth the New, and curb the 

world-wide Wrong, 
'Till Earth's united people's join in one triumphant 



35 



A RIVER SONG. 

The river's monotone is like sweet music dying, 
Or like a love-lorn maid, her love a-sighing ; 
'Tis like the wail of lyres, in languor dwelling, 
Or 'tis a grand triumphant chant to Phoebe swelling. 



36 



A BROKEN PROMISE. 

Only a broken promise, only a bleeding heart, 
Only a lingering kiss before we part ; 
Only a scornful world laughing at my grief, 
'Tis only kissing Death that giveth me relief. 



37 



NEOWANA. 

Neowana, fair as Helen, came to dwell awhile with 

me, 
Rousing me from dreamy slumbers, lying near the 

happy sea. 
Silken tress of midnight darkness, eyne of starry, 

melting brown, 
Form of angel sweetness, rests in my embrace like 

down. 



38 



OCEAN SWELLS. 

Ocean swells beneath the crags and moaneth in the 

darkened caves, 
Oh, waft me perfumes from the east, gems where the 

palm tree waves, 
Corols from the dusky south, with feldsfar from the 

fretted north ; 
Oh, bear me on thy foaming tides far over bars and 

forth. 



39 



MY BRETHREN. 

I sing again my brothers wrongs and weep for thee, 

oh, fellow man ; 
I feel thy sorrows, cares and grief, thy path I inly 

scan. 
Place thy trust in the Infinite, buckle on the sword of 

might, 
And drive before thy allied ranks the demons of the 

night. 

Tear down the palaces of Vice, those parasites of man, 
Destroy the fragments of old Time, fling gold beneath 

your ban ; 
Hurl down the idols of the Church and burn them on 

the shore, 
While in the wonder of the New, wilt reach the 

Golden Age once more. 



4o 



NOT FOR ME. 

Not for me the rose is blooming, I, who linger in this 

world, 
Nor for me hath Fame a guerdon, e'en the swelling 

music dies. 
Even mankind inly scorns me, cometh Death with 

plumes unfurled ; 
u Oh ! reck not for the hated world," my soul in 

dread replies. 



4i 



WHISPERS. 

The river calletb to the mountains, the forest and the 

sea, 
And murmurs by its sedgy banks to ocean tossing 

restlessly. 
It mourneth for the fading stars in sandy wildernesses, 
Aud whispers to the cooing doves, in new-born Rove's 

caresses. 



42 



TO ISABELLA EVANS HADFIELD. 

The morn-blooming roses blush red as you dream, 

While earth is a bower wherever thou art ; 
Dost gaze on the ocean 'neath Phoebe's mild beam, 
The nymphs there abiding, weep whiles you depart. 
Isabella, Neowana and Onona, 
Happy three, 
Dancing where the moonlight glimmers on the waters 
Restlessly. 

My sadness departs as weird Beauty appears, 

Sweet Fancy hath vanished, still weeping, depart, 

Thy presence hath left me, while hasten the years, 
The lustre of dark eyne dwells long in my heart. 

Onona, Neowana and Isabel, 
To thee, farewell ; 
Dreaming in the starlight, sleeping Venus' daughters, 
Fair Isabel. 



43 



INFINITE. 

The Religions of the world are false, I hate them 

more and more ; 
They vanish in the depths of Time, they die away in 

the darkling Past. 
While war-drums sound the death of State and Echo 

answer "nevermore," 
Yet live eterne, dread Infinite, that triumphs in the 

bugle blast. 



44 



ON THE RIVER. 

Silently walk, pale silvery moon, o'er the starry 
waves to-night, 
Sleepily glide the sparkles of foam on the murmer- 
ing river tide. 
Drousily scream dim birds of the dark, alone in their 
sudden flight, 
Fade in the west, thou radiant orb, fair, blushing 
spirit-bride. 



*•** 



45 



NIFHRATA. 

Pale Evening in the distance dies, the stars hath lost 
their lustre, 

The hills of dawn in wonder sleep, fade slow away the 
Plead cluster. 

Aurora in the dreamy east, her morning vigils keep- 
ing. 

And near yon silver rivulet, Nifhrata lieth sleeping. 



1900 



i 



